Wallace leads Bulls past the Pistons

Ben Wallace did his best. He had just helped the Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons, 106-89, Saturday night at Chicago, and he had to admit this wasn’t just another regular-season game.

There were too many memories, too many good times.

“It was just exciting to be out there ... to have an opportunity to play against those guys, talk a little trash,” Wallace said. “It brings a lot of excitement.”

Luol Deng scored 30 points, and Wallace finished with 12 points, 14 rebounds and a season-high six blocks in his first game against his former team.

Wallace was as active as he has been this season, delivering the type of performance the Bulls envisioned when they signed him to a four-year, $60-million contract.

It was a good ending to a tough week for the Bulls, who lost, 97-96, to Phoenix on Tuesday and 91-86 at New Jersey on Friday after scoring the first 18 points. They had dropped 15 of 17 to Detroit and 12 in a row at home.

Richard Hamilton had his second straight 27-point game for Detroit, and Nazr Mohammed scored 15. But the Pistons were only 31 for 89 from the field. Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince finished with eight points apiece, with Prince making only two of 12 shots. Ronald Murray was one for nine for two points.

Indiana 100, New Orleans 93 -- Jermaine O’Neal made back-to-back layups to break an 83-83 tie and spark a 10-3 run that put the Pacers in control in the final four minutes at Oklahoma City.

O’Neal finished with 22 points in his first game since calling the Pacers “a very average team” and suggesting that he and the team should go “separate ways” at the end of the season “if I can’t take this team to another level.”

O’Neal said he didn’t want the Pacers to “mingle around .500” and then make an early exit from the playoffs. The win kept them above .500 at 18-16.

Cleveland 96, New Jersey 91 -- The Cavaliers capped their most successful week in nearly 14 years with the victory at Cleveland. By beating San Antonio, Boston, Milwaukee and New Jersey since Tuesday, they have won four games in five nights for the first time since Feb. 2-6, 1993.

Portland 110, Sacramento 105 -- The Trail Blazers tied the score at the buzzer in regulation and went on to win in overtime at Sacramento. Trailing, 95-93, rookie Brandon Roy forced overtime with a 15-foot, fall-away jump shot over John Salmons.

With the shot clock running down late in overtime, Zach Randolph, who scored 30 points, drove to the basket and made a spinning shot over Shareef Abdur-Rahim to put Portland ahead for good at 104-102 with 44 seconds left. Roy made two free throws with 9.3 seconds left for a 106-102 lead.

Golden State 108, Seattle 104 -- The Warriors overcame 38 points from Ray Allen and 16 missed free throws to hand the SuperSonics their 11th consecutive road loss.

Allen’s seventh three-pointer tied the score at 103-103 with 2:13 left. Both teams missed shots before Baron Davis rebounded a missed three-point shot by Monta Ellis, dribbled out from under the basket and fed Matt Barnes for the go-ahead basket with 1:05 to play.

Utah 96, Denver 84 -- The Jazz saw a 19-point lead in the first half cut to 68-67 with 9:30 left at Denver. However, it went on a 10-0 run to send the Nuggets to their season-high fifth consecutive loss.

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The Atlanta Hawks signed forward Dijon Thompson to a 10-day contract. The 6-foot-7, 195-pound Thompson averaged 20.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 12 games with Albuquerque of the NBA Development League. Thompson, from UCLA, appeared in 10 games with the Phoenix Suns last season, averaging 2.8 points.